Gleaning Facebook: March Woods

The woods are wide open still. You can see the lay of the land and admire the winter textures. This is a special spot along the trail for my students of the last decade or so. We call it the Pentepus Tree. A Red Maple, or maybe a Chalk Maple - I don't remember - it has five boles that form an anthropomorphic hand reaching from the base of Lavender Mountain. The Pentepus was a way station where I'd lean against the fingers with my feet in the palm and tell a story to the kids sitting in the leaves. The strange tree is about to bite the dust, I'm afraid. The limbs have been dying one by one and they all look more than a little peaked now. The fungi are having a feast.

I got a chance to spend some time by myself in the woods today along the Armuchee Elementary Nature Trail. This Hepatica was about the only full-bloom going, but it's going up and down the stream along the little bluff behind the school in all its glory. 
The Toothwort and Rue Anemone will be along shortly.